Sphingolipids are key components of eukaryotic membranes, particularly the plasma membrane. The biosynthetic pathway for the formation of these lipid species is largely conserved. However, in contrast to mammals, which produce sphingomyelin, organisms such as the pathogenic fungi and protozoa synthesize inositol phosphorylceramide (IPC) as the primary phosphosphingolipid. The key step involves the reaction of ceramide and phosphatidylinositol catalysed by IPC synthase, an essential enzyme with no mammalian equivalent encoded by the AUR1 gene in yeast and recently identified functional orthologues in the pathogenic kinetoplastid protozoa. As such this enzyme represents a promising target for novel anti-fungal and anti-protozoal drugs. Given

Abstract. This work presents a detailed design of a three-jointed tendon-driven robot finger with a cam/pulleys transmission and joint Variable Stiffness Actuator (VSA). The finger motion configuration is obtained by deriving the cam/pulleys transmission profile as a mathematical solution that is then implemented to achieve contact force isotropy on the phalanges. A VSA is proposed, in which three VSAs are designed to act as a muscle in joint space to provide firm grasping. As a mechatronic approach, a suitable type and number of force sensors and actuators are designed to sense the touch, actuate the finger, and tune the VSAs. The torque of the VSAs is controlled utilizing a designed Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) fuzzy controll

Silica-based mesoporous materials are a class of porous materials with unique characteristics such as ordered pore structure, large surface area, and large pore volume. This review covers the different types of porous material (zeolite and mesoporous) and the physical properties of mesoporous materials that make them valuable in industry. Mesoporous materials can be divided into two groups: silica-based mesoporous materials and non-silica-based mesoporous materials. The most well-known family of silica-based mesoporous materials is the Mesoporous Molecular Sieves family, which attracts attention because of its beneficial properties. The family includes three members that are differentiated based on their pore arrangement. In this review,

Analyzing plantar pressure trajectories is crucial for assessing foot behavior in dynamic gait stability. We propose the identification of foot symmetry and the detection of deformities by analyzing the trajectories of the center of pressure (CoP) and peak pressure (PP). First, using a foot pressure mapping system, plantar pressure data are acquired during a normal gait cycle. After the data have been acquired, post processing extracts both the CoP and PP trajectories over the spatiotemporal domain of foot motion for each foot independently. For this purpose, we used the optical flow technique which accurately estimates the direction of foot motion. The extracted trajectories of each foot are then segmented into, the medial and lateral regi

Multi-carrier direct sequence code division multiple access (MC-DS-CDMA) has emerged recently as a promising candidate for the next generation broadband mobile networks. Multipath fading channels have a severe effect on the performance of wireless communication systems even those systems that exhibit efficient bandwidth, like orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) and MC-DS-CDMA; there is always a need for developments in the realisation of these systems as well as efficient channel estimation and equalisation methods to enable these systems to reach their maximum performance. A novel MC-DS-CDMA transceiver based on the Radon-based OFDM, which was recently proposed as a new technique in the realisation of OFDM systems, will be us